Judge to sum up in trial over police chase where shots fired

A Northland couple accused of fleeing from police during a highspeed pursuit where shots were fired are expected to learn their fates early next week.

Heta Brass, as known as Heta Lloyd, and Stacey Leah WalkerHaturini are on trial before a jury in the High Court at Whanga¯rei in relation to a police pursuit from Awanui that continued through Te Hiku Forest and on to Ninety Mile Beach just after 9pm on July 25, 2018.

Lloyd, 29, is facing two charges of using a firearm against a law enforcement officer and single charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, driving while disqualified, driving dangerously and failing to stop.

Walker-Haturini is charged with unlawful possession of explosives, unlawful possession of an offensive weapon, possession of a Class C controlled drug, and possession of a utensil for methamphetamine.

Crown prosecutor Bernadette O’Connor and defence lawyers, Sumudu Thode for Lloyd and Annabel Ives for Walker-Haturini, gave closing addresses to the jury yesterday.

Justice Grant Powell will sum up on Monday before the jury retires to consider their verdict.

Both Lloyd and WalkerHaturini have denied being involved in the pursuit, with the former electing to give evidence and telling the jury he was out fishing with a cousin at Owhata Harbour at the time of the chase.

Lloyd said Walker-Haturini’s cousin heard over the scanner that police were involved in a highspeed chase in Awanui.

Lloyd said he and WalkerHaturini drove up just north of the Hukatere offramp in a bid to find her vehicle which they say had earlier been stolen, but couldn’t find it. It was this car police were pursuing.

Walker-Haturini neither gave evidence nor called any witnesses.

In her closing address, O’Connor said the explanation by Lloyd and Walker-Haturini as to why they were on Ninety Mile Beach the morning after the pursuit was “nonsensical”.

Both stayed hidden and walked in bush before descending a sand dune and approaching a member of the public walking his dogs on the beach the next morning, she said.

They did not tell their names to that stranger who gave them a lift to Waipapakauri to a relative’s place, she told the jury.

Among items police recovered, she said, were a cellphone that contained selfies of WalkerHaturini and a screenshot of a payment she made to her mum on the same day the pursuit took place.

O’Connor said no police report was made of Walker-Haturini’s stolen vehicle.

Thode told the jury the identity of Lloyd as the driver of the fleeing car had always been an issue on all charges at trial.

There was no obligation on her client to report that WalkerHaturini’s car had been stolen, she said.

The fact that both Lloyd and Walker-Haturini used the car didn’t mean he was driving it when the police pursuit took place, Thode said.

She said Constable Andrew Duff’s description of the driver of the fleeing car as a male Ma¯ori with long hair best at best “generic and vague”.

Ives said Duff was a recruit and the front-seat passenger in the patrol car should have noticed what was or was not happening in the vehicle being pursued, including who all were inside.